Evil Robot Garage Psych Rock, Meet – Queen Giza

Queen Giza is out of Brooklyn and Charleston and back in July they put out their debut album Machine Master Demon Dream. It’s some pretty cool distorted artistic garage psychedelic rock . The record is described by the band as a “something of a two act rock opera”

“An old man builds a humanoid in his younger image, implanting his memories; the robot discovers what he is, hunts down and kills creator with some difficulties (Machine Master Side), and then the creator has a postmortem dream/nightmare focused on losing his soul to the robot/demons/devil (Demon Dream Side). The 2nd side is formatted around the stages of sleep/dreaming and the bodily/brain functions, and all songs flow into each other. “

Meet-Queen Qiza

for those unfamiliar with your bands history, can you tell us all how you all met up and decided to start a band ?

Eric: Tym and I met through our girlfriends, who are twins, and bonded over our mutual love for Queens of the Stone Age. Emin and I were roommates, and I had sort of consistently pushed a bass into his hands for jamming purposes. One night Tym mentioned that he had played drums in high school, and we decided to go out to a rehearsal space and play for fun. The beginnings had very little structure or intention, and were fueled by a large amount of beer.

who would you list as your musical influence?.

Eric: As a band, Queens of the Stone Age was our common interest, but I had started listening to Thee Oh Sees when Help came out, passed it along to Emin when living together, and then to Tym after a while of knowing each other. We went through phases of psych and garage bands both on our own and as a band. Personally, from a song writing point of view, Pink Floyd and Bowie are my biggest influences. Pink Floyd was mashed into my brain early on by my dad and older brother, and Bowie came on in a few different phases. Emin turned me onto Diamond Dogs, which is the epitome of Bowie writing for me.
whats the coolest thing that’s happened to you as a band since you started up?

Eric: Working with Etienne Puaux on the MMDD cover art. There were a good few weeks of trading progress on the new songs/artwork–it was like trading inspiration back and forth. Great motivation to get songs finished.

Tym: I’d also say playing Shea Stadium in Brooklyn was pretty sweet. We got to play with Pink Mexico, who recently signed with Burger, and they shredded.

what are your hopes and dreams as a band for the next few years.

Tym: We would love to play Baby’s All Right, which is our favorite venue in the city, have seen so many cool shows there, and also it would be great to put some tours together, play with some cool bands in different cities. Put out more albums, record something with Chris Woodhouse (who does all the cool shit), and eventually get a deal with In The Red Records (haha).
what are some of your favorite albums from the past few years?

Tym: Oh man, there are so many. Thee Oh Sees’ Mutilator Defeated at Last is a great great album, and I’m In Your Mind Fuzz and Nonagon Infinity by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are always on constant rotation. Wand’s Ganglion Reef and Golem are absolutely killer. All of Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s and Pond’s albums are amazing. We’re also a big fan of Walter’s Get Well Soon, and Pink Mexico’s debut, Fool.

Do you see any real use for social media , or is it all just a pain in the ass to keep with?

Tym: We both found it to be a huge and kind of lame pain in the ass, but recently started an Instagram account and have had some fun with it. I dunno, I sort of wish it wasn’t such a requirement for bands to have a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. I like the idea of preserving a little mystery and mystique around a band. I think Wand handles that well–there was something cool about listening to this awesome band, then trying to find anything out about them and only getting a bizarre .info website. That said, I can see us making a Facebook page one day, simply because people keep asking for one.
Do you pay attention to reviews or comments from people about your music or do you just turn that noise off.

Tym: It’s hard not to pay a little bit of attention, but we usually turn that noise off and just do what we think is cool. For example, a lot of people comment on the vocal effects Eric uses. And I get what they’re saying, and I think we’re going to try to clean them up a little bit to make them more intelligible. But I also kind of think that that vocal sound, at least partially, is what makes it a Queen Giza song.
If you could tour anywhere in the world , where would you want to go.

Tym: Oh man. I’d love to play shows in Poland one day, where my folks came from. Japan would be crazy, Australia would be awesome (it’s our dream to play a show with King Gizz). This may sound weird, but I’d like to tour through Arkansas and play the White Water Tavern in Little Rock, and also swing through Houston to play some shows with my buddies and their awesome bands (The Uh Huhs, Bombay Harambee). Hell, I think we’d go anywhere that’d book us!
Can music save the mortal soul or is just a good backbeat to your life.

Tym: Eric and I agree that it definitely can save. Music has always been a huge part of our lives, and has always contributed positively to our mental health. It’s a total cliche, but playing and listening to music seems to keep us sane.
Any last thoughts for your fans?

Tym: We’re already getting started on the next album! We were both re-listening to Era Vulgaris recently, and were like yeah, this record is fkin great and we should make the next one sound more like this. I’m not sure in what shape or form that’ll take, but that’s the inspiration for now. Oh, and thank you for listening to our shit!